F 

817 


BLAKE 

PIMA  COUNTY 
ARIZONA 


BAHCfiOfT 
LIBRARY 


University  of  Calif  ornia  •  Berkeley 


SKETCH  OF 

PIMA  COUNTY 

ARIZONA 


ITS  MINING  DISTRICTS,  MINERALS, 

CLIMATE,  AGRICULTURE  AND 

OTHER  RESOURCES 


PREPARED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 

BY 

WILLIAM  P.  BLAKE.  Sc.  D. 

Territorial  Geologist. 


TUCSON 
1910 


SKETCH  OF 

PIMA  COUNTY 

ARIZONA 


ITS  MINING  DISTRICTS,  MINERALS, 

CLIMATE,  AGRICULTURE  AND 

OTHER  RESOURCES 


PREPARED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 

BY 

WILLIAM  P.  BLAKE,  Sc.  D. 

Territorial  Geologist 


TUCSON 
1910 

CITIZEN     PRINT 


T  f  I 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Location,  Area  History    5 

Topography    6 

Geology 7 

Mining  Districts  and  Mines 3.1 

Minerals     S  8 

Smelting  Works    34 

Agriculture  and   Cattle    , 37 

Tucson     39 

Climate                                                                                                             .  44 


P1MA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 


LOCATION,  AREA,  HISTORY. 

Pima,  the  oldest  of  the  thirteen  counties  of  the  Territory 
of  Arizona,  was  established  by  the  first  Territorial  Legislature 
in  the  year  1864. 

It  then  extended  east  and  west  nearly  the  full  length  of  the 
Gadsden  Purchase,  or  from  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  on 
the  east  to  the  Colorado  River  on  the  west.  Since  then,  the 
area  of  the  county  has  been  reduced  by  the  setting  off  of 
Cochise  County  on  the  east;  a  part  of  Yuma  County  on  the 
west;  a  part  of  Final  on  the  north  and  the  county  of  Santa 
Cruz  on  the  south.  But  even  while  so  shorn  of  its  initial  vast 
extent  it  retains  the  ample  area  of  9,424  square  miles,  an  area 
equal  to  that  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island 
combined. 

Pima,  including  Santa  Cruz,  borders  on  the  south  upon  the 
state  of  Sonora,  Mexico,  for  nearly  200  miles.  The  greatest 
width,  north  and  south,  at  the  bordering  county  of  Cochise 
is  about  80  miles.  The  map  of  the  county  is  nearly  bisected 
by  the  parallel  of  32  degrees. 

Pima  may  be  regarded  as  typical  Arizona.  It  is  the  portion 
of  the  territory  earliest  occupied  and  most  generally  known. 
While  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  settling  Massachusetts  Bay, 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  were  traversing  Pimeria  Alta,  as 
the  region  was  then  known,  establishing  Missions  and  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  civilization.  The  region  was  traversed  in  turn 
by  the  expeditions  from  Mexico  in  search  of  gold  and  tur- 
quoises; by  the  gold-seekers  of  1848  and  1849,  by  the  Over- 
land Butterfield  stages  and  lastly  by  the  Southern  Pacific 
railway,  which  stretches  diagonally  across  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  county. 


rt  PI  MA  COUNTY.  ARIZONA 

The  great  reputation  of  Arizona  for  its  wonderful  tem- 
perate and  life-giving  climate  is  largely  based  on  the  knowledge 
gained  by  travelers  and  residents  of  Pima  County. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The  surface  is  diversified  by  mountain  ranges  and  broad, 
plain-like  valleys.  The  mountain  ranges  extend  generally 
in  a  northerly  and  southerly  direction  with  a  westward  de- 
flection. The  chief  elevations  and  broadest  mountain  chains 
are  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  area.  We  there  find  the  Santa 
Catalina  mountains,  the  Rincons,  Santa  Ritas,  Whetstones, 
Patagonia  and  minor  elevations.  West  of  the  Santa  Cruz 
valley,  and  near  the  southern  boundary,  we  find  the  Tuma- 
cacari,  Arivaca  and  Oro  Blanco  mountains,  succeeded  north- 
erly by  the  Cerro  Colorado,  Sierritas,  and  the  Tucson  moun- 
tains. From  these  ranges,  westward,  the  elevations  become 
successively  less  in  altitude  and  importance,  while  the  valleys 
and  the  slopes  become  wider  and  at  lower  levels,  until  beyond 
the  western  limits  of  Pima  County  the  sea-level  is  reached  at 
the  Red  Sea  of  California,  the  Gulf  of  Cortez,  now  more 
generally  known  as  the  Gulf  of  California. 

The  highest  point  in  the  county  is  Wrightson's  Peak  of 
the  Santa  Rita  mountains,  south  of  Tucson,  known  familiar- 
ly as  Old  Baldy,  its  summit  9,432  feet  above  tide.  Mount 
Hopkins,  the  neighboring  peak,  is  8,072  feet,  and  Josephine 
Peak  is  8,435  feet- 

In  the  Santa  Catalinas,  Mt.  Lemmon  reaches  an  altitude 
of  9,150  feet.  In  the  Rincons,  the  peak  is  8.465  and  Mt. 
Mica  8,590  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  Baboquivari  Range,  west  of  the  Tucson  Mountains, 
is  one  of  the  longest  or  most  continuous  in  Pima  County, 
extending  from  south  of  the  International  Boundary,  north- 
ward nearly  across  the  county,  finding  its  northern  prolonga- 
tion in  the  Roskruge  Range  and  the  Silver  Bell  mountains. 
It  receives  its  name  from  Baboqnivari  Peak,  the  picturesque 


GEOLOGY  7 

and  abrupt  precipitous  cone  rising  some  7,849  feet  above 
tide,  as  determined  by  Professor  Forbes  of  the  University 
of  Arizona,  the  only  explorer  known  to  have  made  the  ascent. 
This  peak  is  a  most  noted  landmark,  visible  for  a  hundred 
miles,  or  more,  in  any  direction,  north,  south,  east  and  west. 

The  Santa  Cruz  River  and  the  Rillito  are  the  principal 
streams.  The  drainage  generally  is  northward  to  the  Gila, 
and  westward  toward  the  great  Colorado,  the  Nile  of  Ameri- 
ca. The  Santa  Cruz  extends  from  Sonora,  Mexico,  north- 
ward towards  the  Gila,  sinking  and  becoming  lost  in  the 
plains  before  reaching  Casa  Grande.  The  Rillito  rises  in  the 
Whetstones  and  the  Santa  Ritas  and  flows  westward  with 
considerable  volume,  for  part  of  the  year,  and  then  disap- 
pears underground. 

The  valley  of  the  Santa  Cruz  at  Nogales  on  the  boundary 
is  3,863  feet  above  tide;  at  Tubac  about  3,300  feet  and  be- 
tween 2,300  and  2,400  feet  at  Tucson. 

The  broad  vall-ey  of  Tucson  is  an  expanded  portion  of  the 
valley  of  the  Santa  Cruz  River.  *  It  has  the  appearance  ot 
being  surrounded  by  mountain  ranges  on  all  sides.  The 
region  so  apparently  inclosed  by  mountains  has  an  approxi- 
mate breadth  of  18  to  30  miles;  a  length  of  60  miles;  in  the 
aggregate  an  area  of  over  1,000  square  miles,  with 
an  elevation  above  tide  of  2,300  to  2,400  feet,  at  Tucson, 
to  3,500  feet  at  the  upper  margin  of  the  detrital  slopes  which 
form  the  valley. 

GEOLOGY. 

The  geologic  structure  of  all  the  mountain  ranges  is 
complex.  The  rock  formations  range  in  age  from  the  most 
ancient  to  those  of  comparatively  recent  date;  from  the 
Archaean  to  the  Tertiary  and  Quaternary..  It  is  a  most  in- 
teresting and  instructive  field  for  the  geologist.  Volumes  of 
geologic  history  are  piled  away  in  the  hills  and  lie  ready 
to  be  read  and  interpreted. 


8  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARI/X)NA 

Gneiss.  —  In  the  higher  ranges  at  the  eastern  part  of  the 
county  in  the  Santa  Catalinas,  and  in  the  Rincon  mountains, 
crystalline  gneiss,  and  mica  schists  abound,  especially  on  the 
south  side,  towards  Tucson,  while  contorted  mica-schists  crop 
out  on  the  east  side. 

Granite. — Massive  grey  granite  with  large  and  picturesque 
boulders  of  decomposition  give  a  varied  outline  to  the  sur- 
face. Near  Oracle  (in  Final  County)  at  an  elevation  of 
about  4,000  feet,  evergreen  oaks  in  groves  and  singly  are 
distributed  park-like  over  the  hills  and  among  the  boulders. 

ScJiists. — The  Schists  are  strangely  contorted  and  com- 
pressed into  zig-zag  form,  regularly  crumpled  like  the  leaves 
of  a  book  which  has  suffered  violent  compression  edgeways. 
The  bends  are  angular,  not  rounded,  and  vary  in  amplitude 
from  an  eighth  of  an  inch  to  twelve  inches  or  more.  These 
schists  seem  to  merge  into  the  gneissic  rocks  which  are  so 
permeated  with  granite  or  felspathic  nodules  as  to  present 
tabular  rocks,  with  rounded  white  protuberances,  a  birds-eye 
or  "au  gen-gneiss."  It  is  a. formation  extensively  developed, 
not  only  in  Pima,  but  in  other  parts  of  Arizona  and  may  "be 
known  as  the  Arizonian  schist  formation.  It  underlies  the 
Cambrian  strata  unconformably  and  represents  very  ancient 
sediments. 

Palaeozoic. — The  Palaeozoic  strata  are  well-developed  in  the 
Santa  Catalinas.  They  are  uplifted  and  rest  at  the  north 
end  upon  intruded  diorite  which  has  metamorphosed  a  thick 
bed  of  blue  limestone  and  formed  white  statuary  marble,  with 
copper  deposits  along  the  contact,  as,  for  example,  at  Leath- 
erwood's  Camp. 

Devonian  Corals.  —  Gold  occurs  in  the  large  quartz  lode  of 
the  Southern  Belle  Canyon  not  far  from  Coral  Ridge,  w-here 
there  are  reefs  of  petrified  marine  shells  and  corals  in  De- 
vonian limestone. 

Conglomerate. — Heavy  beds  of  Conglomerate,  chiefly  of 
quartz,  add  to  the  geologic  interest  of  the  region. 


GEOLOGY  9 

Red  Sandstone. — Massive  strata  of  red  sandstone  under- 
lying limestones  and  quartzite  crop  along  Southern  Belle 
Canyon. 

Palaeozoic  in  Santa  Ritas. — The  palaeozoic  is  also  wail 
developed  in  the  Santa  Rita  mountains  near  •  Greaterville, 
where  Devonian  fossils  occur  in  limestone.  Copper  deposits 
of  importance  are  worked  at  Helvetia  and  Rqsemont  near  the 
contact  between  the  quartzite  and  limestone  and  granite. 

So,  also,  in  the  Sierritas,  there  are  important  contact  de- 
posits of  copper  ores  at  the  Twin  Buttes,  at  Mineral  Hill, 
Olive  Camp  and  other  claims. 

Mineral  Deposits.— In  the  Santa  Ritas,  a  region  of  intru- 
sive diorite  is  accompanied  by  many  mineral-bearing  veins, 
carrying  argentiferous  grey  copper,  and  galena.  We  there 
fivid  the  Sal-ero  mines  noted  in  the  early  annals  of  mining  in. 
the  southwest,  and  several  large  veins  cutting  boldly  through 
the  diorite  and  carrying  grey  copper  and  silver  ores. 

The  Arizonian  schists  occur  south  of  Casa  Grande  and 
are  traversed  by  gold-bearing  quartz  veins. 

Carboniferous  limestones  occur  at  the  Vekol  (Final 
County)  and  at  the  Jack  Rabbit,  and  other  claims,  south  ot 
Casa  Grande. 

Volcanic.  —  Massive  deposits  of  volcanic  ejecta  in  the  form 
of  tufas  and  rhyolites  flank  the  Santa  Ritas  and  are  the  chief 
formation  southwards  to  Calabasas,  Nogales  and  Sonora. 

In  the  Cababi  the  prevailing  rocks  are  porphyritic  and 
volcanic. 

Lavas  of  comparatively  recent  'origin  extend  southeasterly 
from  the  Mohawk  range  nearly  across  the  county.  They 
are  also  in  evidence  at  many  places  in  the  Tucson  mountains 
and  especially  at  Tumamoc  and  Sentinel  Peak,  west  of  Tuc- 
son, and  south  at  the  Mission. 

Tufa. — The  lower  hills  along  the  Santa  Cruz  on  the  west 
side  are  generally  formed  of  more  or  less  uplifted  tufas,  and 
the  higher  elevations  further  \vest,  as  in  the  Tucson  moun- 


10  PIMA  COUNTY.  ARIZONA 

tains,  are  palaeozoic  sandstones,  limestones,  shales  and 
quartzites. 

Coyote  mountain  is  granite  with  massive  beds  of  quartzite. 
probably  of  Cambrian  age. 

Porphyritic  tufas  at  the  north  end  of  the  Coyote  mountains 
are  remarkable  for  thick  coatings,  at  the  outcrops,  of  black 
oxides  of  manganese. 

Massive  conglomerates  are  found  farther  south  near  the 
Baboquivari.  Granite  and  gneiss  are  found  at  Sasabi  on  the 
boundary,  and  further  'west  at  Quitovaquito,  at  the  boundary 
line. 

Baboquivari  Peak,  with  columnar  form  and  vertical  sides, 
much  resembles  a  volcanic  rock  or  plug. 

Mountain  Slopes. — The  larger  part  of  the  area  between 
the  mountain  ranges  is  formed  of  the  detrital  material 
brought  out  from  the  canyons  and  arroyos  of  the  mountains 
by  the  raging  floods  which  must  formerly,  in  late  Tertiary 
time,  have  swept  out  boulders,  quartz  and  sand  in  enormous 
quantity,  enough  to  partially  fill  the  valleys  and  give  a  dis- 
tinctive peculiar  sloping  outline  to  the  topography.  (See 
also  under  climate.) 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  11 

THE  MINING  DISTRICTS  OF  PIMA  COUNTY. 

The  valley  of  the  Santa  Cruz  may  be  regarded  as  the 
cradle  of  mining  in  the  Southwest.  This  valley  extending 
far  to  the  north,  was  the  chief  route  by  which  the  earliest 
explorers  from  Mexico  reached  the  then  little  known  north- 
ern portion  of  Sonora,  styled  "Pimeria  Alta."  Mines  were 
opened  right  and  left,  and  the  ores  were  melted  in  crude  but 
effective  adobe  furnaces,  before  the  acquisition  of  the  region 
by  the  United  States  in  1853,  since  known  as  the  "Gadsden 
Purchase." 

Mining  then  commenced  in  earnest  and  United  States 
citizens,  especially  at  the  Cerro  Colorado  and  at  the  Salero 
and  the  Santa  Ritas,  near  Tubac,  now  in  Santa  Cruz  County, 
also  at  the  Patagonia  mine  (Santa  Cruz  County),  since  bet- 
ter known  as  the  Mowry,  it  having  been  extensively  worked 
by  Sylvester  Mowry. 

Mining  districts  were  also  established  at  an  early  date  at 
the  A  jo  and  the  Cababi  in  "Papagueria,"  the  name  of  the 
region  of  Papago  settlements,  west  and  south  of  the  Santa 
Cruz  valley. 

The  position  and  boundaries  of  the  mineral  districts  of 
Pima  County  are  shown  upon  the  accompanying  small  map, 
a  photographic  reduction  of  the  large  county  map  by  General 
Roskruge,  upon  which  the  outlines  of  the  district  have  been 
drawn  by  John  E.  Magee,  Esq.,  for  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

The  mining  records  of  Pima  County  show  tens  of  hundreds 
of  entries  of  locations,  many  of  which  have  been  patented, 
but  many  have  lapsed  and  are  abandoned. 

Manifestly  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  give  a  com- 
plete list  or  directory  of  claims,  and  it  is  not  here  attempted, 
but  mention  is  made  of  some  of  the  more  important  and 
best  known  claims  and  mines  in  the  several  districts. 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  13 

In  the  following  notices  of  some  of  the  claims  and  com- 
panies the  names  are  arranged  alphabetically. 

AMOLE  (TUCSON)  DISTRICT. 

Acme  Mining  and  Reduction  Co. — 24  unpatented  claims. 
Smelting  ores,  copper,  gold,  silver  and  lead. 

Arizona  Copper  Mining  Co. — Twenty-five  claims,  14  miles 
southwest  of  Tucson;  7  miles  to  Jaynes  Station.  Copper, 
silver  and  gold. 

American  Amalgamated  Smelting  and  Mining  Co.  —  Six- 
teen claims.  Copper  ore.  Six  miks  to  railway. 

Bloody  Rose  Copper  Co. — Five  full  claims,  3  miles  west 
of  Tucson.  Copper  ore. 

Buster  Brown  Co. — Sixteen  miles  northwest  of  Tucson. 
Five  claims.  Copper  and  silver  ore.  Eight  miles  to  Rillito 
Station  and  about  12  from  the  smelter  at  Imperial. 

Copper  Queen  Lode. — Thirteen  acres,  4  miles  west  of  Tuc- 
son. 

Terquinis  Mines. — Twelve  copper  ore  claims,  13  miles 
northwest  of  Tucson. 

Grand  Central  Mining  Co. — Eight  claims,  copper,  gold, 
silver  and  lead  ores.  Six  miles  to  railroad;  14  from  Tucson. 

Grand   View. — Ten  claims,   copper  ores. 

Gould  Mining  Co. — Twenty-two  claims,  copper  ores. 
Eighteen  miles  from  Tucson. 

Golden  Shower  Copper  Co. — Four  claims,  14  miles  north- 
west of  Tucson,  in  the  Yuma  mine.  Four  miles  from  Rillito 
Station. 

New  Strike  Group. — Fifteen  acres  'patented;  16  claims, 
zinc  ore. 

Noquilla  Lode. — Sixteen  miles  west  of  Tucson,  9  acres 
patented;  ores,  silver  and  lead. 

New  State  Copper  Co. — Nine  claims,  14  miles  from  Tuc- 
son. Copper  and  iron  ores. 


U  PI  MA  COT"  XT  Y.  ARIZONA 

Old  Pueblo  Copper  Co.  —  Nine  claims;  copper  ores  with 
gold  and  silver  values ;  five  miles  from  Tucson. 

Plomora  Group. 

Southern  Arizona  Copper  Co. — Six  claims.. 

Silver  Moon  Mining  Co. — Six  patented  claims,  about  35 
miles  from  Tucson:  gold  and  silver  ores. 

Tucson  Comal  Copper  Co. — Seventy  claims.  Two  thou- 
sand acres;  ores  of  copper,  gold,  silver  and  lead.  The 
Maimie  and  Old  Pueblo  claims  about  4  miles  west  of  Tuc- 
son; Botello  and  Iron  Dyke  about  30  miles  southwest  of 
Tucson. 

Texas  Copper  Co. — Three  claims,  copper  ores  and  large 
croppings  of  iron  ores.  Ten  miles  to  Rillito  Station. 

Old  Y  it-ma  Mining  Co.  — Eight  claims,  14  miles  northwest 
of  Tucson;  6  miles  to  railroad.  Argentiferous  lead  ore  and 
gold. 

Weir-Pelt  on    Group. — Twenty-two   claims ;    copper  ores,    22 
miles  west  of  Tucson. 

AJO  DISTRICT. 

The  wonderful  richness  of  the  copper  mines  of  the  Ajo 
were  celebrated  throughout  northern  Mexico  before  the  Gads- 
den  Purchase  and  were  popularly  supposed  not  to  have  been 
included  in  the  sale  of  the  country  to  the  United  States.  The 
property  was  located,  according  to  United  States  law,  by  a 
party  of  American  citizens  in  1854  arid  was  worked  by  the 
Arizona  Copper  Mining  and  Trading  Company.  An  attempt 
by  Sonorians  to  take  the  mines  by  force  was  made  in  1855 
by  a  company  of  cavalry  from  Altar  and  Ures.  Sonora,  Mex- 
ico, but  the  soldiers  were  repulsed. 

Considerable  quantities  of  native  copper  and  of  rich  red- 
oxide  ore  were  sent  by  teams  to  Yuma.  thence  down  the 
Colorado  to  -the "Gulf,  thence  to  Sari  Francisco  for  shipment 
tn  Swansea,  Wales. 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  15 

' ;  Redeswill  Reduction  Co. — A  Boston  organization.  Seven 
patented  claims  and  twelve  held  by  location.  The  properties 
were  formerly  held  and  worked  by  the  late  Col.  C.  C.  Bean. 

Cornelia  Copper  Co. — Two  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
patented. 

ARIVACA  DISTRICT. 

Adjoins  the  Oro  Blanco  District  on  the  north.  It  includes 
fche  Gigas  mountains  and  a  part  of  the  San  Luis  range. 

Some  facts  regarding  its  early  hisetory  were  given  in 
former  reports  of  the  geologist,  and  a  brief  resume  may  be 
permitted. 

Upon  the  acquisition  of  the  country  under  the  Gadsden 
treaty,  active  exploration  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  Southern 
Arizona  was  commenced  by  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  earliest  work  was  chiefly  along  the  valley  of  the 
Santa  Cruz  and  its  tributaries,  the  Sopori  and  the  Sonoita. 

About  the  years  1855  and  1857  the  best  known  mineral 
localities  in  the  Gadsden  Purchase  were  at  Arivaca,  anciently 
famous  as  Aribaca.  Sopori,  the  Arizona  mountains,  the 
Santa  Rita  range,  the  Cerro  Colorado,  the  Salero,  and, 
further  west,  the  Ajo  and  the  Cababi  country. 

In  the  year  1856  an  association,  or  company,  was  formed 
ii;  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  sending  out  a  pros- 
pecting party  to  acquire  by  purchase,  or  otherwise,  one  or 
more  of  the  deserted  mining  ranches  and  mines.  Col.  Chas. 
D.  Poston,  of  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  with  Mr.  Herman 
Ehrenberg  and  Mr.  Frederick  Brunckow,  engineers,  with  a 
party  of  gentlemen,  were  fitted  out  and,  after  some  time 
spent  in  visiting  the  then  deserted  camps,  established  the 
headquarters  of  the  company  at  Tubac,  opposite  the  Santa 
Rita  mountains  and  the  northern  spur  of  the  Arizona  or 
Arizuma  mountains,  by  which  name  the  range  is  still  known 
in  Sonora,  just  south  of  the  boundary  line.  Mines  at  Salero 
were  secured  at  that  time. 


16  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

Several  miles  northeast  of  the  Arivaca  rancho  and  north 
of  Tubac,  in  the  Cerro  Colorado,  other  and  important  min- 
ing localities  were  found  and  acquired,  among  them  being 
the  mines  later  known  as  the  Heintzelman,  the  Carlos,  Ce- 
sario  and  others.  These  results  led  to  the  permanent  organi- 
zation of  the  company  known  as  the  Sonora  Exploring  and 
Mining  Company,  with  Major  S.  P.  Heintzelman,  formerly, 
in  1853,  in  command  at  Camp  Yuma,  as  president.  Capital 
was  obtained  from  the  eastern  states,  largely  from  Colonel 
vSamuel  Colt,  of  Connecticut,  the  manufacturer  of  the  Colt 
revolver,  and  machinery  was  sent  out  at  great  cost  for  the 
development  of  the  property. 

Colonel  Poston  secured  the  services  of  the  young  metal- 
lurgical engineer,  Raphael  Pumpelly,  in  addition  those  of 
Ehrenberg,  Brunckkow  and  Kustel.  For  the  more  complete 
and  satisfactory  reduction  of  the  ores,  barrel  amalgamation 
by  the  Frieberg  method  was  introduced.  The  first  bar  of 
silver  was  produced  in  1859. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  the  protecting  United 
States  troops  were  withdrawn  and  it  was  no  longer  possible 
to  work  the  mines  in  safety  by  reason  of  the  presence  of  bands 
of  murderous  savages.  The  works  were  closed  down.  Many 
tons  of  valuable  silver  ore  were  hidden  under  the  piles  of 
waste  and  the  settlement  was  abandoned.  Messrs.  Poston 
and  Pumpelly  were  the  last  to  leave  and  made  their  way  al- 
most alone  down  the  Gila  to  Yuma,  and  thence  across  the 
desert  to  California  and  San  Francisco. 

Further  notes  upon  the  workings  of  the  Heintzelman  and 
other  mines  of  that  region  and  of  Pima  County  may  be 
found  in  the  report  of  Professor  Blake,  the  Territorial  Geolo- 
gist, to  Governor  N.  O.  Murphy  in  1899,  pages  no  to  114. 

Cerro-Colorado  Mining  and  Milling  Co. — This  historic 
property,  known  also  as  the  Heintzelman  mine,  after  a  long 
period  of  inactivity  and  neglect,  was  re-opened  in  1908.  Area 
then  reported:  One  patented  claim,  71  not  patented;  five  mill- 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  17 

sites — greatest  depth  300  feet.  The  development^  work  is 
now  in  charge  of  Mr.  C.  U.  Udall,  who  is  sinking  a  deep 
shaft. 

American  Wolfram  Co. — Eight  patented  claims;  ores  of 
tungsten.  Sixty  miles  southwest  of  Tucson. 

Arivaca  Mining  Co. — Six  claims. 

Bradford  Tungsten  Group. — One  hundred  and  forty-three 
acres  patented.  Several  claims.  Ores  of  tungsten,  chiefly 
huebnerite. 

Centennial  Wolfram-Tungsten  Group. — Known  also  as 
the  Bent  and  Sampson  mine.  Ten  claims  and  a  millsite;  ores 
or  tungsten;  60  miles  southwest  of  Tucson. 

Eastern  Star. — Eight  claims;  gold.  About  75  miles  from 
Tucson. 

Irwin  Group.  —  Eight  patented  claims. 

Liberty  Mining  and  Smelting  Co. — The  old  Liberty  and 
Mary  E.  group,  about  60  miles  southwest  of  Tucson,  in  the 
district  also  known  as  the  Silver  Hill  about  5  miles  south  and 
west  of  the  Cerro  Colorado.  Nineteen  claims,  noted  for  high- 
grade  silver-lead  ores  and  considerable  shipments. 

Oceanic. — Twenty  three  claims. 

Parnell,  G.  U.  and  U.  Co. — Twelve  claims. 

New  York  Group. — Five  miles  west  of  Cerro  Colorado; 
eight  claims. 

BABOQUIVARI  DISTRICT. 

At  the  southern  end  of  the  range  of  the  same  name.  It 
is  about  60  miles  from  Tucson  by  wagon  road  which  ex- 
tends northward  to  Sasabi  and  El  Plomo  in  Sonora.  Ores 
mostly  gold  and  silver. 

Inpites  Group. — Six  claims;  near  Last  Chance. 

Last  Chance. — Four  miles  south  of  the  peak,    Nine  claims. 


18  PIMA  COrXTY.  ARIZONA 

Oriental — Between  15  and  16  acres;  80  miles  southwest 
of  Tucson. 

CABABI  AND  COMOBABI 

These  two  adjoining  districts  are  near  the  center  of  the 
county,  about  70  miles  west  of  Tucson  by  the  wagon  road. 
The  region  was  the  scene  of  early  historic  mining,  prospecting 
and  locating.  Much  work  was  done  there  in  the  decade  of 
the  8o's,  and  high-grade  silver  and  gold  ore  was  developed. 

Cababi  Consolidated  M.  Co. — Six  patented  claims. 

Desert  Group. — Twelve  patented  claims,  and  a  valuable 
deep  well,  utilized  by  prospectors  and  Papagoes.  Estate  C. 
P.  Huntington. 

Duchess  Group. — One  patented  claim. 

Empress  Group.  —  Were  owned  in  1908  by  Nettie  McCor- 
mick,  Tucson. 

El  Cantina  and  San   Tomas. — Two  patented  claims. 

Manhattan  Gold  Mining  and  Smelting  Co. — Twenty-two 
claims ;  gold  ores. 

Manning,  Randolph  and  Smith. — Five  patented  claims. 

Papago  Copper  Co. — Fifty  claims,  one  patented :  in  Coma- 
babi  District. 

Picacho — "Old  Picucho." — Noted  in  the  early  annals  ol 
mining  in  the  southwest  for  the  richness  and  abundance  of  its 
ores  of  silver  which  it  is  stated  could  he  profitably  mined  and 
transported  far  south  into  Old  Mexico  for  treatment.  The 
great  extent  of  the  ore  bodies  developed  near  the  surface  is 
made  evident  by  the  confused  net-work  of  old  shafts,  in- 
clines and  drifts,  mostly  caved  in  and  not  accessible.  Deeper 
workings  in  1909  and  1910  have  revealed  the  existence  of 
ore  bodies,  which  it  is  believed  will  rival  those  of  the  higher 
levels,  and  work  is  now  (1910)  actively  prosecuted. 

Richcy    Group. — Three   patented   claims;    silver,    gold    and 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  19 

copper  ores. 

Santa  Rosa  M.  Co. —  (Rochester  group.)  Nine  claims, 
ores  of  copper  and  silver. 

EMPIRE. 

This  district  lies  southeast  of  Tucson  and  centers  about 
the  Empire  mountains,  a  short  spur  of  the  Santa  Rita  range. 
The  shipping  point  is  Pantano,  about  ten  miles  distant. 

Esperanza  Group. — Nineteen  patented  claims. 

Empire  Mining  and  Development  Company. — Fifteen  full 
claims,  one  patented ;  silver,  lead  and  copper  ores ;  eight  miles 
from}  shipping  point. 

Total  Wreck  Mine.  —  N|ow    (1910)   lying  idle. 

GBEATERVILLE. 

Adjoins  the  Helvetia  District  on  the  south,  and  is  chiefly 
known  for  its  extensive  gold  placer  deposits  flanking  the  Santa 
Rita  mountains  on  the  east  side.  These  placers  have  been 
extensively  worked  and  prospected.  Accessible  by  wagon 
road  from  Tucson,  about  fifty  miles  distant.  The  nearest 
railway  station  is  Sonoita,  on  the  Guaymas  branch  of  the 
Southern  Pacific. 

/.  B.  Anderson  Group. — Placer  claims,  also  vein  claims, 
carrying  ores  of  lead,  silver  and  copper ;  twelve  in  number. 

Barcelo-Zipt. — One  claim;  gold  and  silver  ore;  twenty- 
eight  miles  from  Vails  Station. 

Thos.  Deering. — Twelve  claims;  copper  and  gold  ores. 

Empire  Valley  Mining  Company. — Placer  claims;  300 
acres;  H.  A.  Mann,  president. 

HELVETIA. 

The  northern  end  of  the  Santa  Rita  range  is  within  the 


20  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

lines  of  the  Helvetia  District,  which  adjoins  the  Greater- 
ville  and  the  Empire  Districts.  The  shipping  point  for  mosi 
cf  the  mines  in  the  Helvetia  is  Vails  Station,  on  the  main 
line  of  the  Southern  Pacific.  The  ores  of  copper  predomi- 
nate. 

Black  Horse  and  Goodenough  Group.  —  Two  claims.  Ship- 
ments have  been  made  of  copper  ore.  Eight  miles  by  wagon 
road  to  Vails  Station. 

Cuprite  Mining  and  Smelting  Company. — Eight  claims; 
copper  sulphide  ore. 

Copper  Mountain. — Five  claims;  copper  sulphide  ore. 

/.  K.  Brown. — Eight  claims. 

Thos.  Deering  Group. — Five  claims. 

Eclipse.  —  Nineteen  acres,  patented. 

Helvetia  Copper  Company. — Area  is  estimated  by  acres 
(2,500),  half  patented.  Formerly  Hughes  property.  Ores, 
copper  carbonates  and  yellow  sulphide.  At  and  near  contact 
of  limestone  and  granite.  Equipped  with  150-ton  smelter, 
now  idl-e  (1908-1910).  Railway  to  the  Santa  Cruz  projected. 

Iowa  Mining  and  Smelting  Company. — Blue  Jay  group. 
Twelve  claims.  Ore  shipped  to  Vails  Station,  sixteen  miles. 

Schley  and  Phelps  Group. — El-even  claims;  copper  ores. 
Naragansett. — Eight  claims;   contact  deposit;  copper  ore. 

New  York  Copper  M.  and  Smelting  Company.  —  Eight 
claims. 

Omega  Copper  Company. — Two  patented  claims,  from 
which  large  shipments  have  been  made. 

Rosemont  Copper  Company. — About  800  acres  patented 
ground.  Copper  ores.  Smelter  not  in  operation.  Twenty  - 
two  miles  to  Vails. 

Tip  Top  Mining  Company. — Bulldozer  group. 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  21 

MEYER  DISTRICT. 

In  the  western  part  of  Pima  County,  near  the  Ajo  Dis- 
trict. It  includes  the  Gunsight  range,  and  a  portion  of  ihe 
Growler  range. 

Arizona  R.  S.  M.  Company. — C.  C.  group;  thirteen  pat- 
ented claims. 

Bueno  Burro  Group. — One  patented  claim.  Silver  King 
G.  &  S.  M.  Co. 

Growler  Copper  Company. — Copper  Hill  group.  Twenty- 
eight  claims;  500  acres  patented  ("Growler  Mining  District''), 
about  sixty  miles  south  of  Gila  Bend  Station. 

Keystone  Gold  and  Silver  Mining  Company.  —  Southern 
Belle  group.  Three  patented  claims. 

Morning  Star.— Two  patented  claims. 

Silver  Girl  and  Gunsight. — Two  patented  claims. 

Rickey  and  Duf ton  Group. — Two  claims. 

OLD  HAT  DISTRICT. 

In  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  county,  and  includes  the 
Santa  Catalina  mountains.  Accessible  from  Tucson  by  wagon 
roads  and  also  from  the  valley  of  the  San.  Pedro. 

Campo  Bonito  Mining  and  Milling  Company.— Colonel 
Wm.  F.  Cody,  president. 

Copper  Range  and  Arizona. — Fifteen  claims  and  five  mill- 
sites.  Five  of  the  claims  patented.  Represented  by  F.  M. 
Hartmann,  Tucson. 

. .Cole -Rickey . Group.— Three  claims. .    Copper  ores.   : 

Esperanza  Copper.— Esperanza  group,  Canada  del  Ord. 
Six  claims. 

desman  Gfoup.-^Also  known  as  Condon's.  Five:  claims, 
Copper  ore.  At  contact  of  limestone  arid  diorite, 


22  PIMA  COUNTY.  ARIZONA 

Apache  Group  (Leatherwood's). — Nine  claims.  Ores  of 
copper  at  lime  contact. 

Pontotoc  Mining  Company. — Twenty  claims.  Copper  ores. 
Pandora   Group.  —  Twenty-three   patented   claims. 
Stratton  Group. — Ten  claims.     Copper  ores. 

PAPAGO  DISTRICT. 

South  and  west  of  Tucson,  adjoining  Pima  District  on  the 
west.  Thirty  milesvby  wagon  road  from  Tucson  and  includes 
the  greater  part  of  the  Sierrita  range. 

Bail  and  Otis  Group. — Ten  claims. 

Calumet  and  Arizona  M.  Co. — Twenty  claims. 

Lincoln  Consolidated  M.  Co. — Garcia  group.  West  side 
of  the  Sierritas;  30  miles  southwest  of  Tucson.  Thirty-four 
claims,  and  mill  and  townsite. 

Margarita  Group.  —  (J.  T.  Hughes.)  One  patented  claim 
and  millsite. 

Red  Carbonate  Group. — Nine  claims. 

Montezuma  Group. —  (Hughes.)  Twenty-three  acres  pat- 
ented. 

Parcel!  Grand  Consol.  M.  Co. — Twenty-five  miles  south- 
west of  Tucson.  Three  hundred  acres  patented;  15  claims 
not  patented.  Lead,  silver,  gold  and  copper.  Twin  Buttes 
camp  10  miles  distant. 

PIMA  DISTRICT. 

About  35  miles  south  of  Tucson  and  adjoins  the  Sierrita. 
It  is  reached  by  the  Twin  Buttes  branch  of  the  railway  from 
Tucsoci  to  Calabasas  and  Nogales. 

Annagosa  Copper  Co. — In  1908  under  bond  to  the  Calu- 
met &  Arizona  M.  Co. 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  2Ji 

i   Contzen  and  Murphy,  Group  Three. — Thirty-three  claims 
in  three  groups;  copper  ores. 

Guefano  Group. — (Pacheco  &  Richey.)  Seven  claims;  24 
miles  from  Tucson. 

Elkhorn  M.  Co. — Ten  claims;  copper. 

Marconi  Group. — (Roni.)      Seven   claims.      Copper   ores. 

Mineral  Hill  Consolidated  Copper  Co.— Patented  ground 
850  acres;  24  unpatented  claims. 

Meyer-Clarke-Rowe  Mines  Co.  —  San  Xavier  group.  (A. 
W.  Forbes,  Agt.)  Seven  patented  claims.  Ores:  Silver, 
lead,  copper  and  zinc.  Twenty  miles  to  shipping  point  at 
Tucson. 

Ninety-nine  Group. —  (Boston  and  others.)  Twenty-eight 
miles  southwest  of  Tucson ;  two  miles  from  Twin  Buttes. 
Nine  claims,  one  millsite. 

Old  Allison  Group. — Between  Plumed  Knight  and  the  San 
Xavier.  Nineteen  claims.  Copper  ores.  Twenty  miles  to 
Tucson. 

Olive  Camp  Mining  Co. — Wedge  group.  Twenty-two 
miles  south  of  Tucson  by  wagon  road.  Five  claims.  Argen- 
tiferous galena. 

Paymaster  Consolidated.  —  Paymaster  group.  (Owen.) 
Fifty-two  claims. 

Port  Arthur  Group.— (Cunningham.)  Thirty-one  claims; 
copper  ores. 

Plumed  Knight. —  (Chilson.)  Are  patented  claims  and  13 
are  not  patented.  Copper  ores. 

Roni  Read  and  Baxter  Group. — Eleven  copper-bearing  claims. 

Reid  Group. —  (Baxter,  Ellis  and  Bell.)  Thirteen  claims. 
Thirty-two  miles  south  of  Tucson,  Copper,  silver  and  gold. 

Vulcan  Group. —  (Schaaf.)     Four  patented  claims. 


L>4  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

Swastika  Copper  and  Silver  Mining  Co. — Twenty-four 
claims;  silver  and  lead. 

Silver  Spoon  Group: — (Adjoins  Paymaster.)     Six  claims. 

South  San  Xaz'ier  Copper  Co. — (Franklin.)  Three  claims 
patented;  four  not  patented. 

Twin  Buttes  Mining  and  Smelting  Co. — Twenty-seven 
miles  southwest  of  Tucson  in  Sierrita  mountains.  Seven 
claims  patented  and  55  not  patented.  Connected  with  the 
Southern  Pacific  railroad  by  rail. 

The  four  principal  claims  of  the  Twin  Buttes,  are  the  Sen- 
ator Morgan,  Copper  King,  Copper  Glance  and  Copper  Mill. 
The  ore  occurs  in  well-defined  contacts  of  granite  with  lime- 
stone and  in  lode-like  bodies  of  garnet,  which  is  the  abundant 
vein-stone.  The  railway  constructed  by  this  company  from 
Tucson,  has.  with  the  exception  of  the  branch  leading  from 
the  valley  up  to  the  mines,  been  disposed  of  to  the  Southern 
Pacific  and  forms  the  first  portion  of  the  line  from  Tucson 
to  Calabasas,  Nogales  and  Mexico. 

QUIJOTOA  DISTRICT. 

This  district  lies  west  of  the  Cababi  District  and  the  Santa 
Rosa.  It  became  prominent  some  twenty  years  ago  as  a  sil- 
ver producing  camp  of  great  promise.  It  has  within  its  limits 
gold  placers,  without  water,  but  worked  in  a  desultory  way  by 
the  Papago  Indians. 

Silver  Bullion  Group. — Twenty-four  acres  patented. 
Weldon  Copper  Mining  Co. — Thirty  claims. 

Lovcll-Richey-Carpenter  Group. — Seven  claims;  copper 
ores. 

RINCON  DISTRICT. 

Eist  of  Tucson  and  includes  the  Rincon  range  southeast 
of  the  Catalina  District. 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  25 

Palo  Verde  Copper  M.<  Co. — Ten  claims,  about  9  miles 
northeast  of  Vails  Station. 

Rudge  Copper  Co.  —  Nine  claims. 

Santa  Yduvijen  Group. —  (Lovell,  Carpenter  and  Richey.) 
One  hundred  and  forty  acres. 

Virginia  Belle — (Bennett,  Pantano.) 

REED  DISTRICT. 

Between  the  Rincon  and  the  Catalinas,  about  35  miles  from 
Tucson  by  the  wagon  road. 

Arizona  Apache  Copper  Mining  and  Smelting  Co.-r 
(Foran-Crisman  group.)  Twenty-nine  claims;  copper  ores. 

Del  Monte  Group. — Seven  claims.     Copper  ores. 

SILVER  BELL  DISTRICT. 

About  thirty-five  miles  northwest  of  Tucson,  covering  the 
Silver  Bell  mountains  at  the  northern  prolongation  of  the 
Roskruge  range,  and  formerly  known  as  the  Abbie  Water- 
man mountains. 

Arcade  Group  (Decker,  Johnson,  Fairon). — -Sixteen  claims. 
Eight  miles  from  Sasco. 

Cole-Glidden  Copper  Company  (Vic  Griffith.) — Sixteen 
claims.  Copper  ores. 

Copper  Giant. — Fourteen  claims.  Ten  miles  to  Sasco 
smelter. 

Cleveland  Arizona  Mining  Company. — El  Toro  Copper 
group.  Ten  claims.  One  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  railroad 
at  Silver  Bell. 

Indiana-Arizona  Mining  Company.  —  Abbie  Waterman 
group. 

Imperial  Copper  Company. — About  800  acres  patented, 
twenty-eight  claims;  balance  not  patented. 


2ti  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

E.  B.  Gage,  president;  W.  F.  Staunton,  vice-president  and 
general  manager. 

This  property  is  connected  with  the  two  smelting  furnaces 
at  Sasco,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad,  by  the  branch 
known  as  the  Arizona  Southern  railroad,  with  a  trackage  of 
twenty-one  miles.  The  furnaces  have  a  combined  capacity  of 
750  tons  daily.  The  second  furnace  was  started  December 
i,  1908.  (See  further  under  the  caption  of  Smelters.) 

In  five  years'  time  since  work  at  the  mines  under  the  Im- 
perial management  began,  the  lodes  of  copper  ore  have  opened 
to  a  depth  of  800  feet  by  both  a  vertical  and  an  incline  shaft. 
Tunnels  have  been  cut,  roads  made,  and  a  town  of  some  2,000 
inhabitants  has  replaced  the  solitudes  of  the  desert.  More 
over,  the  smelting  town  of  Sasco,  in  the  valley,  has  grown 
up  around  the  furnace  plant  and  is  connected  with  the  mines 
by  a  standard  gauge  railway  fourteen  miles  long  and  with 
the  trunk  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  at  Red  Rock. 

The  Imperial  carries  the  names  of  about  800  men  on  its 
pay  roll.  It  mines  and  ships  600  to  750  tons  of  ore  a  day, 
and  Sasco  produces  1,250,000  pounds  of  copper  a  month. 
It  thus  ranks  with  the  large  copper  producers  of  Arizona 
and  is  growing  in  extent  and  importance,  with  a  large  area 
of  ground  yet  to  be  opened. 

Mr.  Staunton,  the  general  manager,  in  his  report  for  1909, 
says :  "The  Mammoth  mine  has  continued  to  be  the  largest 
producer  during  the  year  both  in  tonnage  and  value,  the  out 
put  having  been  89,542  tons. 

"The  occurrence  of  ore  in  this  mine,  as  indeed  in  all  our 
limestone  mines,  is  associated  with  the  contact  of  the  lime- 
stone and  an  intrusive  porphyry,  the  ore  bodies  sometimes 
extending  for  long  distances  in  the  limestone,  but  generally 
originating  at  the  contacts.  The  porphyry  has  broken  the 
limestone  into  large,  irregular  blocks,  which  have  been  so 
displaced  by  fracture  and  movement  as  to  make  the  following 
of  the  contact  (which  is  the  method  employed)  difficult." 


MINING  DISTRICTS  AND  MINES  27 

La  Mina  Cobre  Company — Copper  Prince  group.  Twelve 
claims.  Eight  miles  from  Sasco  smelter. 

North  Silver  Bell  Group. — (Percy  Williams.)  Two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  acres,  adjoining  the  Imperial  on  the  northeast. 

Oxide  Copper  Company. — Doxology  and  True  Blue  group. 
One  hundred  and  forty  claims. 

Richardson-Crepin  Group. — Claims  near  Imperial.. 

Red  Rock  Copper  Company. — Nine  patented  claims  and 
one  millsite. 

Silver  Hill  Consolidated  Copper  Co. — The  properties  of 
this  company  are  in  the  Silver  Hill  mountains,  about  five 
miles  easterly  as  the  bird  flies  from  the  mines  of  the  Imperial 
Copper  Co.,  and  40  miles  from  Tucson.  The  range  of  eleva- 
tion known  today  as  the  Silverbell  mountains  was  formerly 
known  as  far  back  as  1878  as  the  "Abbie  Waterman  moun- 
tains." The  original  mining  location  in  these  mountains  was 
known  as  the  Abbie  Waterman  mine.  The  property  was 
early  extensively  worked  for  lead  and  silver  and  produced  a 
large  quantity  of  both  of  these  metals.  As  the  \vork  of  de- 
velopment proceeded  copper  ore  became  the  chief  product  and 
the  mine  became  known  as  a  copper  mine.  It  is  known  also 
as  the  Paddy  Woods  mine,  and  has  been  extensively  developed. 

The  initial  properties  upon  which  the  Silver  Hill  Consoli- 
dated Copper  company  was  organized,  consisted  of  the  five 
following  claims,  to-wit:  Metallic  Beauty,  Majestic,  Silver 
Hill,  Silver  Hill  West  Extension  and  Faison.  These  are 
patented  mines. 

Subsequent  to  the  organization  of  the  company,  it  wai 
found  advisable  by  the  corporation  to  cause  to  be  located  for 
it,  fifteen  additional  mining  claims.  These  are  admirably  sit- 
uated adjacent  to  and  surrounding  the  above  named  five  pat- 
ented mines,  and  the  area  enclosed  in  these  additional  claim*, 
i-  exceedingly  promising  for  the  production  of  copper. 


28  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

The  copper  ores  occur  in  connection  with  strata  of  lime- 
stone and  quartzite  at  or  near  the  contact  of  these  formations 
with  granite.  They  are  also  found  in  fault  fissures  following 
the  planes  of  disruption  of  large  masses  of  rock. 

MINERALS  OP  PIMA  COUNTY. 

Under  the  title  "Mineralogical  Sketch  of  the  Silver  Mines 
of  Arizona,"  Mr.  Raphael  Pumpelly,  in  1861,  presented  a 
paper  to  the  California  Academy  of  Science,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  proceedings  (Vol.  II,  1862).  A  copy  was  also 
printed  by  Mowry  in  his  "Arizona  and  Sonora,"  in  1864.  . 

That  paper  deals  chiefly  with  the  minerals  and  mines  of  the 
Cerro  Colorado,  and  of  the  Santa  Ritas  as  then  known.  The 
principal  species  noted  are  the  argentiferous  grey  copper, 
stromeyerite,  galenite,  blende  and  native  silver,  practically  the 
mineral  species  of  the  Salero  and  Tyndall  District  as  known 
today.  ; 

In  May,  1907,  the  writer  contributed  a  list  of  Pima  County 
minerals  to  the  "Citizen"  for  its  "Mining  and  Industrial  num- 
ber," which  list,  with  additions  and  corrections,  is  here  re- 
peated. Reference  is  also  made  to  the  list  of  Mineral  locali- 
ties of  Arizona,  published  in  1909,  as  a  report  to  the  Governor. 

The  most  abundant  and  showy  mineral  species  of  which 
Pima  County  can  boast,  are  doubtless  the  ores  of  copper, 
more  especially  thos-e  resulting  from  the  oxidation  of  copper 
sulphides.  The  mineral  cabinets  and  great  museum  collec- 
tions of  the  world  have  been  enriched  by  the  brilliant  crystal- 
lizations of  azurite,  malachite  and  cuprite  from  the  stopes  of 
the  Copper  Queen  mine  at  Bisbee,  in  the  adjoining  Cochise 
County.  Fortunately  for  such  collections,  and  for  science, 
the  management  of  the  mine  under  Dr.  James  Douglas  hai» 
ever  been  an  appreciative  conserver  and  distributor  of  the 
gems  of  the  mine.  A  fine  series  may  be  seen  in  the  Museum 
of  the  University. 


MINERALS  29 

Other  remarkably  beautiful  cystallizations  of  the  rare 
mineral  known  as  Wulfenite,  the  molybdate  of  lead,  have 
been  taken  from  the  Mammoth  mine  north  of  Oracle,  and 
from  the  Old  Yuma,  specimens  of  which  are  also  in  the 
Museum. 

Amongst  other  compartively  rare  species  occurring  at  several 
places  in  Pima  County,  we  may  mention  molybdenite,  vanadi- 
nite,  Des  Cloizite  and  tungstic  ochre.  The  following  alpha- 
betical list  includes  some  of  the  best-known  species  and  lo- 
calities, but  is  confessedly  imperfect: 

Argentite. — Silver  sulphide.  With  the  ores  of  the  Eureka, 
the  Alta,  Montezuma,  Empress  of  India,  Montezuma's 
Daughter  and  other  silver  mines  of  the  Tyndall  District,  Santa 
Cruz  County.  Also,  in  the  ores  of  Cerro  Colorado  and 
Liberty  mine. 

Argentiferous  Grey  Copper. — See  Tetrahedrite. 
Argentiferous  Lead  Ore. — See  Galena. 

Azurite. — The  blue  carbonate  of  copper.  At  the  Azurite 
mine;  Sierrita;  Helvetia,  at  the  Imperial,  Silver  Bell  District, 
Ajo,  and  at  nearly  all  the  copper  mines  of  Arizona. 

Barite. — In  complex  groups  of  flattened  crystals  from  the 
Quijotoa  District.  At  the  Imperial  Copper  Mine,  Silver  Bell 
District,  in  crystals;  also  at  the  Santa  Catalinas. 

Calcite. — A  common  associate  of  the  ores  of  lead,  of  copper 
and  of  silver.  Abundant  as  caliche. 

Cerussite. — Lead  Carbonate.  Is  generally  found  in  the 
oxidized  croppings  of  the  lead-bearing  lodes. .  At  the  Pay- 
master, the  Mowry,  in  Santa  Cruz  County ;  at  the  Flux  Mine, 
Patagonia;  World's  Fair  Mine. 

Chalcocite. — At  Spencer's  Papago  Copper  Mine,  Cababi, 
District,  and  at  other  copper  claims. 

Cuprite.  —  Crystallizations  of  this  rich  ore  of  copper  were 
formerly  abundant  in  the  ores  of  copper  at  the  Copper  Queen 


30  PIMA  COUNTY.  ARIZONA 

in  Cochise  County.  A  cubic  crystal  measuring  nearly  one- 
half  inch  on  the  sides,  and  translucent  of  a  fine  ruby-red  color 
adorned  the  collection  of  Mrs.  Williams  of  Bisbee.  It  was 
formerly  found  in  large  masses  with  native  copper  and  mal- 
achite at  the  Ajo. 

Chalcopyrite. — The  most  common  of  the  combination  )f 
iorn  and  copper  with  sulphur,  known  generally  as  "yellow 
copper,"  is  common  in  the  copper  claims.  It  is  softer  than 
iron  pyrites  with  which  it  is  very  generally  associated.  Found 
at  the  Helvetia  Mines;  Paymaster  Group;  in  Tucson  moun- 
atins  and  the  Silver  Bell  Mines,  at  Leatherwood.  Apache 
Camp. 

Chrysocolla. — Silicate  of  copper  in  varying  shades  of  green 
color  is  a  common  associate  of  other  ores  of  copper  in  the 
croppings  of  the  copper-bearing  lodes  of  Pima  County. 

Des  Cloizite. — A  compound  of  zinc  and  vanadic  acid.  Oc- 
curs at  the  Old  Yuma  Mine,  near  Tucson.  This  species  named 
for  the  late  Professor  Des  Cloiseaux,  a  famous  mineralogist 
of  Paris,  France. 

Epidote. — An  alteration  mineral  allied  to  garnet  and  a  fre- 
quent associate  of  ores  of  copper  and  specular  iron.  It  is 
abundant  at  the  Morgan  Mine,  Twin  Buttes,  and  in  the  shales 
of  Silver  Bell  District  it  carries  native  copper. 

Garnet.  —  Common  as  a  veinstone  of  copper  ore  at  the 
Twin  Buttes,  Imperial  and  other  mines;  at  Helvetia  and  in 
the  Mineral  Hill  District. 

Gypsum. — At  many  localities  in  Pima  and  Santa  Cruz 
Counties,  especially  along  the  San  Pedro  River. 

Gold. — At  Greaterville,  in  placer  deposits,  also  in  veins  in 
the  basal  granite  conglomerate  of  the  Santa  Ritas,  and  in 
shaly  limestone.  In  the  placers  of  Horseshoe  Basin,  and  gen- 
erally in  association  with  copper  ores  in  small  quantity.  In 
quartz  veins  at  Oro  Blanco,  Arivaca  and  Salero  in  Tyndall 
District.  "White-Gold."  in  Oro  Blanco  District  and  Canada 


MINERALS  31 

de  Oro.     At  the  Southern  Belle,  Old  Hat  District,  Catalina 
mountains. 

Galena  or  Galenite. — A  widely  distributed  mineral,  gen- 
erally silver-bearing  and  known  as  argentiferous  lead.  Old 
Yuma  mine,  near  Tucson ;  Liberty  mine,  C-erro  Colorado. 
Also  in  Tyndall  District ;  Eureka,  Mabel  and  other  mines ; 
Paymaster  mines,  Sierritas ;  at  the  Mowry  mines,  Santa  Cruz 
County;  World's  Fair  mine.  Flux  mine,  Patagonia;  at  the 
Vekol  (Pinal)  and  other  mines  west  and  south  of  Tucson. 

Huebnerite. — A  tungstate  of  manganese,  used  specially  for 
making  tungsten  steel  and  for  hardening  steel.  Occurs 
abundantly  in  quartz  lodes  in  and  near  Gigas  mountains 
(Arivaca  District).  Also  in  the  Whetstone  mountains  and 
the  Dragoons,  in  Cochise  County. 

Hematite. — Occurs  massive  and  foliated  at  several  copper 
mines  and  especially  in  the  Montosa  copper  mines  and  in  the 
foliated  form  associated  with  copper  and  with  zinc-blende 
at  the  Pluto  and  at  the  Isabella  and  other  claims. 

Lead  Sulphide. — See  Galena.  For  lead-carbonate  see 
Cerussite. 

Manganite.—An  ore  of  manganese  frequently  associated 
with  lead  and  silver  ores,  especially  in  the  lodes  traversing 
diorite  in  the  Tyndall  District,  Santa  Cruz  County.  It  is 
there  earthy  and  amorphous  mingled  with  other  oxides  and 
is  derived  from  pink  manganese  spar;  one  of  the  veinstones. 
At  the  Coyote  mountains,  manganese  oxide  forms  a  thick  su- 
perficial coating  on  porphyritic  rocks. 

Magnetite.— Common  as  croppings  of  copper  deposits, 
especially  in  Santa  Cruz  County,  Tyndall  District,  near  to  the 
Montosa,  and  in  Josephine  Canyon  at  the  Vulcan,  in  a  large- 
bed  associated  with  copper  ore  and  suitable  for  flux.  At 
the  Twin  Buttes  and  other  copper  mines  in  Pima  County. 

Molybdic  Ochre. — At  McCleary's  molybdenite  mines, 
Santa  Ritas. 


$2  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

Molybdenite. — Molybdenum  sulphide,  at  McCleary's  mines, 
Santa  Ritas,  in  quartz  gangue. 

Native  Silver. — World's  Fair  mine,  near  Patagonia,  Santa 
Cruz  County;  Eureka  mine  and  the  Alta,  Salero,  Tyndall 
District. 

Native  Copper. — Paymaster  mines;  in  epidote,  Silver  Bell 
District.  At  the  Ajo. 

Scheelite. —  (Tungstate  of  lime.)  Occurs  in  the  Maudina 
claim,  Old  Hat  District,  Santa  Catalinas. 

Specular  Iron. — This  species,  known  also  as  hematite  and 
micaceous  iron  ore  ,is  a  frequent  associate  of  copper  ore  crop- 
pings,  often  in  the  position  of  gossan  overlying  the  copper 
ore.  Occurs  in  large  beds  associated  with  magnetite  in  Tyn- 
dall District,  Santa  Cruz  County.  See  Hematite. 

Sphalerite. — Sulphide  of  zinc.  At  the  Montana  mine, 
Santa  Cruz  County,  at  the  Helvetia  and  other  mines  in  Pima 
County. 

Stibnite. — Sulphide  of  antimony,  occurs  sparingly  in  con- 
nection with  some  of  the  lead  ores. 

Stromeyerite. — An  ore  of  copper  of  high  grade  and  rich  in 
silver.  Constitution  mine,  Tyndall  District,  Santa  Cruz 
County ;  also  at  the  Montezuma  group,  same  district ;  Heintzel  - 
man  mine,  Cerro  Colorado. 

Tenorite. — Black  oxide  of  copper,  is  usually  found  in  small 
quantities  in  the  midst  of  rich  secondary  copper  ores  in  the 
croppings  of  the  larger  copper  lodes. 

Tetrahedrite. — In  the  veins  traversing:  diorite  in  the  Tyn- 
dall District,  Salero.  In  the  World's  Fair  mine,  near  Pata 
gonia.  At  the  mines  of  the  Cerro  Colordo;  also  in  the  Ca 
babi  District.  In  cyrstals  at  mine  of  Clark  &  Petersen. 

Tungsten. — :See  Huebnerite. 

Vtinadinite.—Q\&  Yuma  mine,  north  of  Tucson. 
.  Wolframite.— See  Huebnerite. 

Zinc  Ores. — See  Sphalerite. 


MINERALS  33 

BUILDING    STONE,    MAEBLE    AND    OTHEE 

MATERIALS. 

There  are  many  places  in  Pima  County,  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  where  excellent  building  stone  can  be  cheaply 
quarried. 

Tufa. — Near  Tucson  there  are  two  or  more  quarries  where 
a  light-colored  gray  or  nearly  white  tufa  is  obtained  for  build- 
ing. It  is  a  strong  and  durable  stone,  breaks  with  a  conchidal 
fracture  without  rift,  and  has  been  effectively  used  for  one 
of  the  larger  buildings  at  the  University  and  for  a  two-story 
dwelling.  It  is  used  also  for  coping  and  trimmings. 

For  rough  foundations,  coping  and  cellar  walls,  a  heavier, 
darker-colored  lava-rock  is  obtained  at  Tumamoc  Hills  and  at 
Sentinel  Peak,  opposite  Tucson. 

Marble. — The  Tucson  mountains,  west  of  the,  city,  yield 
a  fine-grained,  very  dark-colored,  almost  black  marble.  White 
statuary  marble  may  be  had  near  Giesman's  Camp,  in  the 
Catalinas. 

A  variegated  marble  of  great  promise  occurs  near  the  Total 
Wreck  mines,  in  the  Empire  District. 

Santa  Rita  Marble,  Granite  and  Mining  Company. — This 
company  has  opened  quarries  of  marble  and  granite  in  the 
Santa  Ritas,  and  exhibits  a  fine  series  of  samples  in  the  office 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  One  of  the  samples  is  nearly 
dense  black  and  takes  a  high  polish.  Other  samples  are  blue- 
gray,  suitable  for  mantels  and  monuments. 

Red  Freestone  may  be  had  in  the  Southern  Belle  canyon, 
and  quartzite  in  abundance. 

Brick  and  Tile  Clay  of  excellent  quality  occurs  near  Pan- 
tano,  on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad. 

Brick. — The  manufacture  of  a  superior  quality  of  brick 
has  been  started  by  Q.  Monier,  using  a  peculiar  feldsparthic 
tufa  which,  after  grinding  and  moistening,  is  compressed  in 


34  PIMA  COUNTY.  ARIZONA 

molds  and  then  burned  to  a  very  dense  and  hard  brick  of 
superior  form  and  quality,  with  a  variety  of  pleasing  colors. 
This  product  is  a  most  desirable  accession  to  the  variety  of 
building  materials  obtained  in  Tucson. 

Gypsum. — This  can  be  obtained  in  quantity  near  Tucson. 

Limestone. — Rock  suitable  for  burning  to  caustic  lime  is 
obtained  in  the  Tucson  mountains  and  in  the  Sierritas,  Santa 
Ritas,  Catalina  and  the  Rincons.  Good  lime  for  mortar  can  be 
had  from  the  Caliche,  so  abundantly  spread  through  the  soil 
about  Tucson. 

SMELTING  WORKS. 

The  ruins  of  ancient  adobe  furnaces  and  the  mounds  of 
scattered  slag  piles  in  various  places  in  Pima  County,  especial- 
ly along  the  Santa  Cruz  valley,  record  the  industry  of  the 
metallurgists  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  early  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth centuries.  Such  evidences  are  most  notable  where 
the  lead-silver  ores  of  the  old  Patagonia  mine  were  treated ; 
also  at  the  Tumacacori  Mission,  near  Tubac,  where  Salero 
ores  were  treated,  and  also  at  the  Cerro  Colorado. 

The  furnaces  were  built  on  the  pattern  of  the  Mexican  vasa, 
practically  a  combination  of  a  reverberatory  and  a  shaft  fur- 
nace, and  were  adapted  to  the  treatment  of  comparatively 
small  quantities  of  high-grade  silver  ores  in  mixture  with 
silver-bearing  lead  ores.  The  resulting  metallic  lead,  rich  in 
silver,  was  cupelled  with  the  formation  of  lithage  and  pure 
silver.  Charcoal  was  used  for  fuel.  Similar  furnaces  of 
small  size  might  be  used  today  with  profit  in  some  localities 
where  crude  oil  can  be  obtained  for  fuel. 

Furnaces  for  copper  smelting  have  been  established  at 
several  places  at  different  dates.  One  was  maintained  for 
years  a  few  miles  north  of  Tucson,  as  a  custom  smelter,  sup- 
plied largely  by  the  ores  from  the  Old  Boot  mine.  Silver  Bell 
District.  A  furnace  was  also  kept  running  for  a  long  time 


SMELTING  WORKS  35 

at  the  mine.  A  smelter  at  the  old  Apache  mine  in  the  Ca ta- 
lmas was  run  for  a  time  and  produced  considerable  matte 
from  the  rich  surface  ores  but  at  great  expense  for  fuel.  It 
was  moved  to  the  Isabella  mine  in  the  Santa  Ritas,  where 
Capt.  Burgess  produced  several  shipments  of  black  copper, 
but  was  obliged  to  shut  down  by  a  complete  change  in  the 
character  of  the  ore,  as  depth  was  obtained.  These  results 
emphasiz-e  the  importance,  or  necessity  of  having  a  proper 
mixture  of  ores  for  the  furnace  charges,  'such  a  mixture  as  is 
rarely  found  in  one  mine  or  locality. 

With  the  acquisition  of  the  Old  Boot  and  other  copper  bear- 
ing claims  at  Silver  Bell,  the  Imperial  Copper  Company  or- 
ganized the  Southern  Arizona  Smelting  Company,  with  Mr. 
E.  B.  Gage  as  president;  W.  F.  Staunton,  vice-president  and 
general  manager,  and  Mr.  Meade  Goodloe,  superintendent. 
A  4OO-ton  smelting  furnace  was  erected  at  Sasco  on  the  South- 
ern Pacific  railroad,  about  14  miles  distant,  and  was  con- 
nected by  rail  with  the  mines. 

The  first  furnace  was  erected  there  under  the  immediate 
supervision  of  Prof.  Meade  Goodloe  in  the  winter  of  the 
years  1907-1908,  and  was  started  in  the  month  of  February, 
1908.  During  the  year,  it  averaged  366  tons  of  charge. 

A  second  furnace,  increasing  the  total  capacity  of  the  works 
to  750  tons  per  day,  was  started  December  i,  1908,  and  in 
March,  1909,  the  production  had  been  increased  to  1,500,000 
pounds  of  copper  per  month.  During  the  last  seven  months 
of  1909  the  two  furnaces  averaged  371  tons  of  ore  each  per 
day,  exclusive  of  flue  dust,  counter  slag  or  other  material  en- 
tering for  a  second  time.  The  material  smelted  consisted  of 
Imperial  ore,  240.833  tons;  custom  ore,  3,140.  tons;  iron, 
flux,  1,567  tons;  a  total  of  245,540  tons. 

Liberal  inducements  in  smelting  rates  have,  been  offered 
for  custom  ores,  resulting  in.  shipments  to  the  extent  of  -3,-i4Ci 
tons.  •...-..  ....  -...;.-•-.  -(->  ,..** 

The  furnaces  have  made  matte  of  good  converting'  grade,' 


36  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

averaging  near  to  40  per  cent  copper.  Skilled,  judicious 
management  and  the  increased  scale  of  operations  have  re- 
sulted in  a  marked  reduction  in  the  net  cost  per  ton,  the  aver- 
age for  1909  being  $4.91,  covering  mining,  transportation, 
smelting  and  converting.  The  average  for  the  three  months 
ending  September  3Oth  was  as  low  as  $3.55  per  ton.  General 
Manager  Staunton,  from  whose  report  these  figures  are  taken, 
directs  attention  to  the  fact  that  on  this  basis  with  copper  at 
13  cents  per  pound  in  New  York,  netting  approximately 
1 1  2-5  cents  in  the  bank,  a  recovery  of  slightly  less  than  40 
pounds  per  ton  of  ore,  or  2  per  cent  only,  is  necessary  to  cover 
all  operating  expenses. 

In  addition  to  the  extensive  smelting  works  at  Sasco,  where 
the  ores  from  the  Imperial  mine  and  some  custom  ores  are 
smelted,  as  already  noted,  it  is  proposed  to  have  a  plant  near- 
er to  Tucson.  The  many  copper-bearing  properties  near  this, 
and  along  the  Santa  Cruz  valley  are  being  made  easily  acces- 
sible by  the  construction  of  the  railway  from  Tucson  to  Cala- 
basas  and  Nogales,  thus  connecting  with  the  newly  developed 
railway  system  of  the  Western  Mexican  States. 

The  desirability  of  a  custom  smelter  near  to  Tucson  has 
long  been  noted  and  discussed. 

In  a  communication  to  the  Tucson  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
March  19,  1910,  Capain  C.  F.  Roberts,  superintendent  of  the 
Esperanza  and  the  Chesterfield  mines,  outlines  a  plan  for  the 
consolidation  of  effort  of  the  leading  producing  mines  about 
Tucson  for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  a  smelter 
plant.  He  enumerates  the  Esperanza,  the  Chesterfield,  the 
Omega,  the  Helvetia  and  the  Twin  Buttes  properties  as  capa- 
ble of  furnishing  an  adequate  supply  of  ore  for  a  3OO-ton 
smelter,  rating  the  Helvetia  as  good  for  200  tons  a  day,  the 
Omega  100  tons,  and  the  Twin  Buttes  100  tons,  leaving  in 
addition  large  reserves  at  the  mines.  Other  mines,  especially 
the  Old  San  Xavier  mine,  and  the  claims  of  Mineral  Hill,  are 
named  as  important  adjuncts  in  the  ore  supply. 


AGRICULTURE  AND  CATTLE  :;? 

It  has  been  proposed  by  others  to  erect  a  smelter  at  the 
Gould  mines  in  the  Tucson  mountains,  where  it  is  claimed 
that  the  ore  is  sufficiently  abundant. 

The  smelting  works  at  Sasco*,  where  the  copper  ores  of  the 
Imperial  Mines  Co.  are  treated,  has  the  advantage  of  a  favor- 
able natural  mixture  of  ores  and  of  being  on  the  main  line 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  railway  and  is  known  also  as  a  cus- 
tom smelter. 

In  any  projects  for  the  establishment  of  a  smeltery  it  is 
essential  to  consider  not  only  the  quantity  of  the  ore-supply, 
but  its  nature,  as  regards  proper  smelting  mixtures;  the 
accessibility  of  suitable  fluxes,  the  fuel  supply  and  the  facili- 
ties for  transportation. 

AGRICULTURE  AND  STOCK  RANGES. 

The  character  of  the  vegetation  of  Pima  may  impart  a  bet- 
ter idea  of  the  climate  than  any  description. 

Southern  Arizona,  particularly  large  portions  of  Pima 
County,  is  the  home  of  the  vine,  the  fig  and  the  pomegranate. 
Palms  and  pepper  trees  abound,  and  orange  and  lemon  trees 
may  be  grown  in  favorable  situations. 

The  bottom  lands  of  the  Santa  Cruz  and  of  the  Rillito  yield 
large  crops  of  alfalfa  and  grain  and  supply  the  market  at 
Tucson  with  fresh  vegetables  throughout  the  year. 

The  extreme  fertility  of  the  soil  of  these  valleys  is  general!} 
known.  Although  the  ranches  and  farms  of  the  Santa  Cr.iz 
have  been  worked  for  many  generations  and  without  fertiliz- 
ing in  any  form  there  is  no  lessening  of  fertility  and  yield. 

In  the  report  of  the  Governor  of  Arizona  for  1899,  page 
205,  we  read : 

"The  Santa  Cruz  valley,  which  extends  from  south  to  north 
across  the  entire  county,  was  undoubtedly  the  first  seat,  of 
agriculture  in  Arizona.  The  old  settlements  of  Huebabi,  Tit- 


38  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

macacori,  Tubac,  Tucson  and  San  Francisco  maintained  a 
considerable  population  and  supplied  the  Spanish  military 
posts  with  provisions  by  agriculture  in  the  earliest  dawn  of 
civilization  on  the  American  Continent  and  the  descendants 
of  those  early  producers,  augmented  by  recent  settlers,  still 
carry  on  successful  agriculture  at  all  these  points  and  at  many 
new  places  until  agriculture  has  become  an  important  indus- 
try. For  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  years,  ever  since 
the  Spaniards  first  set  foot  in  the  Santa  Cruz  valley,  crops 
have  been  produced  every  month  in  the  year  with  irrigation 
and  without  a  particle  of  fertilizer  being  used  and  still  the  soil 
is  rich  and  abundantly  productive,  and  is  annually  growing 
richer  from  irrigation.  Two  crops  are  raised  on  the  same 
land  each  year." 

The  same  authority  says : 

"Twenty  per  cent  of  the  land  of  Pima  County  can  be  suc- 
cessfully irrigated  and  reclaimed  by  a  system  of  ditches  and 
drainage  pipes  and  reservoirs  for  water  storage  at  a  reason- 
able outlay.  *  *  *  Wheat,  barley,  oats,  alfalfa,  corn,  sorghum, 
tobacco,  potatoes,  peas,  beans,  beets,  all  kinds  of  vegetables, 
fruit,  etc.,  can  be  produced  on  these  lands." 

The  Canoa  Ranch o. — In  the  Santa  Cruz  valley,  about 
thirty-five  miles  south  of  Tucson,  is  a  tract  of  land  two  and 
one-half  miles  wide  and  eleven  miles  long,  originally  a  Span- 
ish land  grant  but  fully  confirmed  by  the  United  States,  and 
now  under  development  by  Milwaukee  capitalists!,.  This 
tract  of  over  2700  square  miles,  along  the  richest  portion  of 
the  valley  and  under  one  ownership,  has  much  agricultural 
importance.  A  large  portion  of  the  tract  is  covered  with 
heavy  mesquite  wood  which  will  find  an  appreciative  market 
for  domestic  fuel  in  Tucson. 

Rillito  Lands. — The  bottom  lands  of  the  Rillito  near  Tuc- 
son are  famed  for  their  fertility  and  productiveness.  They 
are  much  prized  and  utilized  by  market  gardeners,  who  largely 
supply  Tucson  with  fresh  vegetables  winter  and  summer. 


TUCSON  39 

Cattle  Industry. — Pima  County  has  always  been  famous 
for  the  abundance  and  quality  of  its  beef  cattle.  The  nutri- 
tious and  high  flavored  wild  grasses  of  the  mountain  slopes 
impart  a  sweetness  and  flavor  to  the  beef  unattainable  by  fat- 
tening with  alfalfa.  The  large  herds  of  horses  that  formerly 
ranged  over  the  plains  of  Pima  have  to  a  great  extent  disap- 
peared and  left  the  pasturage  to  horned  stock.  In  some  parts 
of  the  valleys  in  Papagueria  the  native  grasses  in  favorable 
seasons  grow  luxuriantly  and  so  thickly  that  they  may  be 
advantageously  cut  for  hay. 

Angora  Goats. — Several  herds,  one  in  Tyndall  District 
(Santa  Cruz  County),  prove  the  adaptation  of  the  region. to 
the  goat  industry.  Th-e  hilly  region  of  the  Salero  appears  very 
favorable.  The  goats  feed  chiefly  upon  the  low-growing 
acacia-like  shrubs  in  preference  to  grasses. 

CITY  OF  TUCSON. 

Tucson,  the  county  seat,  has  been  styled  by  Miss  Sharlot 
Hall,  the  Territorial  Historian,  as  the  "Mother  of  Arizona 
History."  It  deserves  the  title.  It  was  certainly  an  im- 
portant residence  place  "for  aboriginal  people  long  before  his- 
torical records.  It  was  a  Mexican  pueblo  and  a  military 
post,  a  presidio,  long  before  the  Gadsden  Purchase. 

Authorities  differ  greatly  regarding  the  date  of  its  organi- 
zation as  a  pueblo.  Some  claim  a  date  as  early  as  1555,  earlier 
than  the  San  Augustine  settlement  in  Florida  in  1595.  Others 
state  that  "Chookson"  is  recorded  as  a  settlement  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Padre  Marco  de  Niza  set  out  from  Culiacan  in  the 
year  1539  to  find  the  cities  of  Cebola.  He  reached  the  Gila 
River  and  found  the  Pima  Indians.  His  reports  led  to  the  ex- 
pedition of  Coronado  in  1540,  who  is  believed  to  have  fol- 
lowed down  the  Santa  Cruz  and  then  visited  the  Indian  sec- 
tlement  of  Tucson. 


10  PIMA   COTXTY.  ARIZONA 

In  1694  the  Padre  Eusebius  Francis  Kino,  accompanied  by 
Padre  Mange,  reached  the  Gila  River  from  Sonora  by  way 
of  the  Santa  Cruz  valley,  passing  by  the  sites  of  the  present 
t<nvns  of  Tubac  and  Tucson,  visiting  the  Pima  Indians. 

Hinton  in  his  handbook,  a  good  authority  about  Arizona, 
page  264.  says : 

"The  early  origin  of  Tucson  is  rather  obscure.  Coronado's 
reports  of  his  expeditions  to  the  'Seven  Cities  of  Cibola/ 
(X.  M.)  in  1540-49,  though  very  minute  in  details,  do  not 
mention  the  valley  of  Santa  Cruz,  through  which  he  probably 
passed,  as  being  inhabited.  A  claim  is  made  for  it  by  Col. 
Hodge,  in  'Arizona  As  It  Is;  (on  what  data  is  not  stated) 
that  this  valley  was  settled  about  the  year  1560,  which  would 
make  it  the  oldest  city  in  the  United  States  but  one,  it  being 
stated  that  Santa  Fe  was  settled  in  i;;5,  and  San  Augstine 
Florida,  in  1565.  Three  miles  below  Tucson,  and  a  mile  due 
east  from  the  Casa  de  Dominie  Padre  (or  the  Mission  of  San 
Augustin)  is  what  appears  to  be  an  old  town  in  ruins,  but  no 
clue  can  be  obtained  as  to  its  origin,  history,  or  the  date  and 
circumstances  of  its  destruct;on.  It  is  again  believed  that 
Tucson  was  commenced  as  a  Spanish  military  station  to  pro- 
tect the  Mission  of  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  nine  miles  south,  in 
1694,  or  very  soon  afterwards.  About  the  oldest  inhabitant 
there,  born  in  Tucson  in  1819,  is  Francisco  Leon.  As  far 
back  as  he  recollects  it  was  a  military  post,  at  which  there 
were  stationed  about  eighty  or  ninety  soldiers.  There  were 
about  140  hovels,  without  doors  or  panels,  and  the  windows, 
where  there  were  any.  had  no  frames ;  these  buildings  had  a 
prison-like  and  singular  appearance,  inside  and  out.  There 
were  about  .three  hundred  citizens :  the  cultivators  sold  their 
produce  to  the  government.  Until  about  the  year  1825  no 
late  frosts  were  known  to  injure  the  fruit  trees  in  blossom  : 
and  large  quantities  of  grapes,  peaches,  pomegranates,  quinces, 
apples  and  apricots  were  raised  in  the  valley  west  of  Tucson.'.' 

"Bartlett.   in   his  'Personal   Narrative.'   published  after  the 


TUCSON  41 

Mexican  War,  but  prior  to  the  Gadsden  Purchase,  states  that 
Tucson  'has  always  been,  and  is  to  this  day,  a  presidio  or  gar- 
rison, but  for  which  the  place  could  not  be  sustained.  In  its 
best  days  it  boasted  a  population  of  a  thousand  souls,  now 
diminished  to  about  one-third  that  number.  *  *  *The  lands 
near  Tucson  are  very  rich  and  were  once  extensively  culti- 
vated, but  the  encroachments  of  the  Apaches  compelled  the 
people  to  abandon  their  ranches,  and  seek  safety  within  the 
town.  The  miserable  population,  confined  to  such  narrow 
limits,  barely  gains  a  subsistence,  and  could  not  exist  a  year 
but  for  the  protection  from  the  troops.  More  than  once  the 
town  has  been  invested  by  from  ,one  to  two  thousand  Indians, 
and  attempts  made  to  take  it,  but  thus  far  without  success." 

"A  few  more  years  and  Garcilla,  commanding  the  presidio, 
announced  to  the  soldiers  drawn  up  in  line,  the  turning  over, 
under  the  Gadsden  Purchase,  of  that  portion  of  the  territory 
to  the  United  States.  On  March  10,  1856,  all  the  Mexican 
authorities  and  troops  evacuated  the  place.  Eleven  days 
previously  the  first  American  store  in  Tucson  was  s-tarted  by 
the  arrival  of  Solomon  Warner,  from  Fort  Yuma,  with  thir- 
teen pack  animals  loaded  with  merchandise.  Hooper  &  Hin- 
ton,  of  Fort  Yuma,  were  interested  in  the  adventure/' 

"Late  in  1856,  Hon.  Charles  D.  Poston  made  his  second 
visit  to  Arizona,  by  way  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico.  He 
describes  Tucson  at  the  time  as  being  a  place  of  from  300  to 
400  Mexicans,  and  about  30  Americans." 

But  whatever  dates  history  may  give  us,  it  is  certain  that 
Chookson,  Tulqueson,  or  Tucson,  was,  for  an  unknown  period, 
an  aboriginal  settlement  of  the  forefathers  of  the  Papago  or 
Pima  tribes,  attracted  there  by  the  exceptional  advantages  of 
abundant  water  supply,  fertile  land  and  favorable  climate. 
The  origin  of  the  place  is  lost  in  antiquity  but,  since  the  acqui- 
sition of  Pimeria  Alta  by  the  United  States,  its  growth  has 
been  marvelous  and  the  Tucson  of  today  is  a  modern,  thriving 
city  with  gas,  electric  light,  water,  sewer  system,  educational 


42  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

and  religious  institutions. 

The  city  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Santa  Cruz  River  on  the  lower  part  of  the  long,  detrital  slope 
from  the  Santa  Catalina  mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  2400 
feet  above  the  sea. 

Situated  upon  the  main  trunk  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
transcontinental  road,  at  the  end  of  a  division,  it  is  the  site 
of  the  important  railway  repair  shops  and  depot  of  crude  oil 
used  for  the  engines.  It  is  also  the  terminus  of  the  great 
railway  system  of  the  western  coast  of  Mexico,  where  trains 
are  made  up  for  all  points  in  Sonora  and  the  adjoining  states 
as  far  south  as  Mazatlan. 

Tucson  is  acknowledged  as  the  chief  science  and  educational 
center  of  the  Territory.  It  is  the  site  of  the  University,  with 
its  score  of  professors  and  teachers,  and  of  the  United  States 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  with  extensive  chemical 
laboratories  and  experimental  farms. 

Here  also  we  find  the  Desert  Botanical  Laboratory  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution,  with  its  corps  of  investigators  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  D.  T.  Mac  Dougal. 

The  United  States  Magnetic  Observatory  has  recently  been 
established  at  Tucson. 

The  Territorial  Museum  is  established  at  the  University 
and  the  Free  Public  Library  of  many  volumes  is  housed  in  a 
beautiful  building,  the  gift  of  Mr.  Carnegie,  in  the  principal 
open  square  of  the  city. 

Tucson  has,  for  many  years,  maintained  a  literary  club  for 
women,  the  pioneer  club  in  Arizona.  At  a  recent  meeting  of 
the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  of  the  Territory,  Mrs.  S. 
C.  Newsom,  Ph.  D.,  of  Tucson,  was  elected  President  of  the 
Federation. 

Tucson  is  the  home  of  the  Pioneers'  Historical  Association, 
which  has  a  valuable  librarv  and  collections. 


TUCSON  48 

The  public  schools  of  Tucson  have  between  2,000  and  3,000 
pupils,  fifty-three  teachers,  and  five  principals.  Of  the  five 
ward  school  buildings,  one  is  single  and  four  are  two-storied ; 
all  are  of  brick  and  substantially  constructed  and  well  equipped 
with  the  customary  grammar  school  apparatus.  The  new 
High  School  building  has  a  basement,  a  first  and  second  floor, 
and  fifteen  recitation  rooms,  with  laboratories  for  physi- 
ography, chemistry  and  physics,  and  a  fine  assembly  hall  with 
a  seating  capacity  of  more  than  eight  hundred,  fitted  with 
desks  and  opera  chairs  and  is  electrically  lighted. 

Tucson  is  well  supplied  with  religious  organizations  and 
places  of  worship.  Nearly  all  the  Christian  denominations 
are  represented  in  the  population. 

There  are  two  daily  papers ;  two  or  more  weekly  papers,  and 
"The  Plant  World,"  a  botanical  magazine,  is  printed  and 
published  in  Tucson. 

Tucson,  by  reason  of  its  varied  advantages,  and  above  all 
its  unrivalled  climate,  is  a  favorable  place  of  residence,  par 
ticularly  in  the  winter  season. 

The  market  gardens  of  the  Rillito  and  the  Santa  Cruz  val- 
leys insure  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  green  vegetables  through- 
out the  year,  and  the  proximity  by  rail  to  the  fruit  market  of 
California  and  western  Mexico  keeps  the  market  well  supplied 
with  citrus  and  other  tropical  fruits. 

The  completion  of  the  railway  from  Tucson  to  Mexico  along 
the  natural  route  up  the  Santa  Cruz,  has  placed  the  modernized 
old  pueblo  in  close  connection  with  Sonora  and  Sinaloa,  and, 
amongst  other  advantages,  will  permit  of  an  abundant  supply 
over  night  of  fresh  sea-food  in  great  variety  from  the  teem- 
ing waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Cortez,  at  Guaymas,  or  at  Lobos. 
Thus  fish  and  oysters,  taken  from  the  water  in  the  evening, 
may  be  on  the  table  in  Tucson  in  the  morning. 

The  mission  church  of  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  nine  miles  south 
of  Tucson,  and  that  of  Joseph  de  Tumacacori,  two  miles  south 


44  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

of  Tubac,  are  objects  of  much  interest  to  historians  and  tour- 
ists. San  Xavier  is  well  preserved  and  in  use,  especially  by 
the  Papagoes.  Tumacacori  is  in  a  ruinous  condition  and  is 
reserved  by  the  United  States  as  a  national  monument. 

On  the  hill  at  San  Xavier,  surmounted  by  a  cross,  and  a 
place  of  pious  pilgrimage,  there  is  a  grotto  which,  like  the 
famous  grotto  of  Massaville  at  Lourdes,  has  some  important 
religious  significance  and  attraction  to  the  tourist  as  w-ell  as 
the  faithful  devotee. 

In  addition  to  the  old  mission  churches  and  other  objects  of 
historical  interest  about  Tucson,  archaeologists  may  find  much 
to  attract  their  attention  in  buried  villages  and  cities  of  which 
there  is  no  record.  Chalqueyuma,  for  example,  opposite  Rilli- 
to,  fifteen  miles  below  Tucson,  on  the  bank  of  the  Santa  Cruz, 
shows  nearly  a  mile  square  of  buried  foundations.  At  the 
mouth  of  Bear  Canyon,  the  form  of  ancient  dwellings  may  be 
traced  by  the  foundation  posts  of  stone,  and  the  form  of  ancient 
walled  places  of  refuge  may  be  studied  in  the  ruined  walls  on 
the  top  of  Tumamoc  hill,  west  of  Tucson. 

The  natural  roads  around  Tucson  and  other  parts  of  the 
country  are  remarkable  for  th-eir  excellence.  The  caliche  or 
lime  deposit  in  the  soil,  has  the  remarkable  property  of  harden- 
ing like  cement  mortar  even  when  loosely  filled  in  a  roadway. 
It  packs  and  s-ets  to  a  solid  mass  and  encloses  the  gravel  and 
boulders  which  are  mingled  with  it  as  firmly  as  if  in  artificial 
grouting.  This  granite  mixture  when  worn  down  by  travel 
and  swept  clean  by  the  wind  looks  like  an  artificial  mosaic  and 
is  very  hard  and  durable. 

CLIMATE. 

Pima  County  enjoys  the  typical  climatic  conditons  which 
have  made  Arizona  famous  for  its  salubrity  and  as  a  delightful 
resort  from  the  severity  of  winter  in  the  Middle  West  and  the 
Eastern  Atlantic  States.  The  clearness  of  the  atmosphere 
gives  free  passage  to  the  vivifying  rays  of  the  sun  and  at  night 


CLIMATE  45 

to  free  radiation,  bringing  a  refreshing  and  tonic  coolness  con- 
ducing to  rest  and  recuperation.  Arizona  is  a  land  of  golden 
sunshine,  comparable  to  the  sun-kissed  borders  of  the  Nile  and 
even  superior  in  health-giving  qualities. 

The  sun,  the  great  life-giver,  is  the  chief  and  fundamental 
factor  in  climate.  It  determines  the  winds,  temperature, 
evaporation,  and  precipitation.  In  the  clear  skies  of  arid 
regions  it  attains  its  greatest  power  and  greatest  vivifying  in- 
fluence felt  alike  by  vegetable  and  animal  life.  The  chemical 
activity  of  its  rays  is  not  lost  in  clouds  or  fogs,  but  exerts 
its  full  force.  The  excellence  of  photographic  pictures  is  a 
familiar  example  of  this  power. 

The  dry,  equable  and  salubrious  climate  of  Southern  Arizona 
renders  the  region  a  favorite  resort  for  persons  afflicted  with 
pulmonary  complaints. 

Special  weather  reporters  and  the  scientific  climatologists 
admit  that  Tucson  is  the  center  of  the  most  favorable  zone  in 
the  southwest  for  the  improvement  and  maintenance  of  life  of 
consumptives  in  the  United  States  or  even  in  the  world.  ( Re- 
port of  Governor  Murphy,  1899.) 

It  is  the  avowed  opinion  of  eminent  physicians  and  experts 
that  there  is  no  other  portion  of  the  United  States  which  will 
compare  favorably  with  that  in  and  about  Tucson  for  the  relief 
of  pulmonary  affections. 

The  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  is  credited  with  the  statement  in 
the  New  York  Tribune  that  "during  five  months  in  Southern 
Arizona  in  winter  there  was  but  one  day  when  the  weather 
made  it  impossible  for  me  to  take  exercise  in  open  air  at  some 
time  or  other  during  the  day.  Of  course  there  were  a  good 
many  days  which  a  weather  observer  could  have  observed  as 
cloudy  and  some  were  showery,  but  during  the  five  months 
from  November,  1895,  to  May,  1896,  there  were  only  four 
days  when  we  did  not  have  brilliant  sunshine  at  some  time 
during  the  day.  Even  more  than  Egypt,  or  anywhere  north  of 
Luxor,  Arizona  has  sunshine.  The  nights  throughout  the 


4»i  PIMA  COUNTY,  ARIZONA 

winter  are  apt  to  be  cold  enough  for  wood  fires  and  blankets. 
Half  the  time  an  overcoat  is  not  needed  during  the  day,  but 
it  is  never  prudent  for  a  stranger  to  be  without  one  at  hand. 

"The  atmosphere  is  singularly  clear,  tonic  and  dry.  I  have 
never  seen  it  clearer  anywhere  in  the  world.  It  seems  to  have 
about  the  same  bracing  and  exhilerating  qualities  as  the  air  of 
the  Great  Sahara  in  Northern  Africa,  or  of  the  desert  about 
Sinai  in  Arabia  Petrea.  It  is  much  dryer  han  any  part  of  the 
Valley  of  the  Nile  north  of  Cataract.  It  seems  to  me  about 
the  .same  in  quality  as  the  air  on  the  Nile  between  Assouan 
and  Wadyhalfa,  and  somewhat  cooler." 

The  climatic  changes  of  the  region  are  discussed  by  the 
writer  in  a  report  to  the  Desert  Botanical  Laboratory  (Botani- 
cal Features  of  North  American  Deserts,  page  66). 

The  enormous  amounts  of  degradation  of  the  mountain 
ranges,  the  excavation  of  rocky  canyons  and  the  vast  accumu- 
lation of  debris  in  the  valleys  as  well  as  the  deeply  cut  water 
channels  in  the  debris  which  forms  the  ancient  slopes,  all  tell  of 
the  former  larger  volume  of  water  and  consequently  of  greater 
precipitation  than  we  now  have.. 

\Ye  are  living  in  an  era  of  dessication  dating  back  probably 
to  the  Pleistocene,  the  era  of  the  glaciers.  The  rainfall  is  now 
desultory,  uncertain,  spasmodic,  excessive  at  times,  as  "cloud 
bursts"  so-called,  but  torrential  and  temporary,  and  then 
scany  or  entirely  wanting. 

For  the  accompanying  table,  showing  the  range  of  tempera- 
ture in  degrees  Fahrenheit  at  Tucson  for  the  year  1909,  I  am 
indebted  to  Director  Forbes  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station  at  the  University.  And  similarly  for  the  tabular  state- 
ment of  the  rainfall  at  Tucson  for  fourteen  years  from  1896 
to  1909  inclusive. 


CLIMATE  47 

TEMPERATURE      RECORD      IN  DEGREES, 
FAHRENHEIT,  TUCSON-1909. 

Greatest 

Mean               Mean  Daily 

Max.               Min.                Max.               Min.  Range. 

January 82           29             70.1            37-4  49 

February-                 ..76           23              66.4            34-5  43 

March  81            25             69.3           36.8  51 

April..                    91            30             82               44-8"  49 

May...                    96           41             87.7           49.5  47 

June   1 06           53            TOO.I            62.7  46 

July   ....108           64             98.6           71.3  36 

August  102           62             94.7           70.6  35 

September 100           52             92.4           63.1  43 

October  ..                   ..  94           36             87.8           70.3  50 

November                 ..91            26             74.7           39.8  53 

December  79            17             62               33  39 


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